There are places at Great Oakley where the past doesn’t feel very far away, and St Michael & All Angels is one of them. Set within the Great Oakley Estate, the church has stood here since the 13th century, with the original building constructed between around 1200 and 1250 and further additions made as the community around it developed. Today it is recognised as a Grade II* listed building, and for more than 700 years people have come through its doors to worship, celebrate, remember and say goodbye.

In its earliest years, St Michael’s was very different from the church we know today. It is believed to have served as a field chapel for the two Lords of the Manor and had neither a font nor a churchyard, which meant baptisms and funerals for Oakley took place at St Lawrence’s Church in Great Newton, reached by an old route known as Bier Baulk. That changed in 1405 when the Pope was petitioned for permission for St Michael’s to have its own cemetery, font and priest. Permission was granted, and from around 1406 monks from nearby Pipewell Abbey are believed to have travelled to Great Oakley to serve the church.

Centuries of Great Oakley history can still be found within the building. Fragments of medieval stained glass survive in the chancel, alongside an octagonal font, a 17th-century tower and choir furnishings incorporating earlier work said to have originated at Pipewell Abbey. The church also holds a remarkable physical record of the Brooke and de Capell Brooke family, whose history at Great Oakley stretches back for generations.

But St Michael’s is not simply a record of what came before. Today it remains a living church serving Great Oakley, Little Oakley and Oakley Vale, welcoming people for regular worship as well as baptisms, marriages and funerals.

Great Oakley has changed enormously during the centuries that St Michael’s has stood here, and it will continue to change. Through all of that, the church has remained a place of worship, remembrance and community at the heart of Great Oakley. More than 700 years after its story began, it is still very much part of ours.

Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing more of the story of St Michael’s, exploring its connection with the de Capell Brooke family, some of the treasures held within its walls, its historic churchyard and the role it continues to play in the Great Oakley community today.